On the way to Cape May

I got to go to Cape May again this year, although it was a short stay. Maybe it's because my family has been going down there every summer since 1988, but I really like it there. The ocean is beautiful and soothing, the "boardwalk" (really a paved promenade) is subdued in the evening unless you go into one of the few arcades, the atmosphere is relaxed, things move at a more leisurely pace. You can eat yourself into oblivion, if you're not careful, because there are so many restaurants and sweet shops; but we're usually relatively careful ;-)

They haven't been coming since the beginning, but my dad's cousin and her daughter (who is 11 years younger than me and 4 years younger than my sister) have been joining in for many years now, and sometimes my dad's cousin's husband joins in for part of the time. It's a lot of fun and one of these days I'll write a longer post about the traditions we have, but it's been a long day and this one's going to be short.

This year, we played Cape May like it was the Farewell Symphony: My sister, myself, my dad's cousin and her daughter all arrived late on a Saturday afternoon. Our mom, dad, "Aunt" Cherry (Mom's best friend), and my dad's cousin's husband arrived Sunday afternoon. My sister had to leave Sunday night; the crazy lady left at 10pm and drove for about 3 and a half hours back to where she was working until her internship ended this past weekend. Dad's cousin's husband had to leave after lunch on Monday, and his daughter had to leave Monday late afternoon/early evening to drive 4 hours back to where she lives and works in Connecticut. Then I had to leave Tuesday morning to work half a day, since I only have 3 (now 2) vacation days to use this fiscal year. (I'll have 20 to use next fiscal year! Yay!) Mom, Dad, Aunt Cherry, and my dad's cousin stayed until Friday.

Next year, I think we're going to try for a Thursday-Tuesday stay, and hopefully more of us will be able to stay for more of the time.